RSL turns around road woes

It's not quite mission accomplished yet, but Real Salt Lake took a critical step forward over the weekend.

Sure, the Utah side still has work to do in order to avoid the one-off Western Conference wildcard knockout match just four days after the end of the regular season, but it seems like a forgone conclusion after grinding out a 2-1 road win over Los Angeles on Saturday night.

It was just the kind of momentum-building win that resurgent Salt Lake needed to bolster its confidence in the final weeks of the season and prove that it is a legitimate contender for the 2012 Major League Soccer Cup.

After smoking Chivas 3-0 on June 16 at the Home Depot Center, Real went into a funk away from home and didn't gain another win away from Rio Tinto in any competition until snagging 1-0 result in the dying seconds of its CONCACAF Champions League match at Tauro FC on Sept. 18.

And now suddenly, with just one road match remaining, the Claret-and-Cobalt is riding a three-match road winning and is 3-1-1 in its last five road matches across all competitions.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Saturday's win was Real's ability to battle back from an early deficit and being put under pressure for much of the match to hold the Galaxy scoreless, handing the defending champions their first loss in any competition in 11 matches.

"They (L.A.) really put us under," Real boss Jason Kreis said. "They scored in the 17th minute and we were under all of those 17 minutes. I was really interested to see what our response would be. A lot of teams, even ourselves, in some patches of the season, and in prior years, would fold up shop and just succumb to more and more goals and more and more pressure. I think our guys handled it in the exact right way. They stayed calmed and realized that we would still get chances. And, what a fantastic play by the players involved on that first goal. I think it really changed the flow of the game."

It certainly might have a huge impact on Real's season.

By getting the full result, Salt Lake moved five points ahead of Los Angeles in the race for one of the Western Conference's top three table positions, which means the team needs to gain just two more points (or have the Galaxy drop two) in order to lock down one of those coveted spots and avoid the one-match knockout game.

"It's huge. LA is right behind us in the playoff race," RSL defender Tony Beltran said. "It's a big statement, but mostly it's good for ourselves. We want to keep this going. We've said that as far as we are concerned the playoffs started weeks ago. We want to keep getting results week in and week out and get through October and November."

And grinding out results like the one on Saturday night might just assure Salt Lake of playing a few matches in November.

You can follow Justin Johnson on Twitter at: @jjohnson801 or email him at justinjohnson801@gmail.com.

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RSL turns around road woes

It's not quite mission accomplished yet, but Real Salt Lake took a critical step forward over the weekend.